Nationalism

The rapid decay of Maoist ideological
beliefs and the need for continued stability in the Chinese
Communist Party have led to an increased reliance on
nationalism as a unifying ideology. Patriotic sentiment is
no longer the sole province of the Party and its
propagandists. Just as commercialization created a new,
avaricious social contract of kinds, so nationalism in the
1990s has functioned to form a basis for consensus beyond
the bounds of official culture. But it is a consensus that
for the time being at least benefits the Party (or should
we call talk more simply of "the power-holders"?). Both
economic realities and national priorities call for a
strong central state and thus tend to give an ideologically
weakened Communist Party a renewed role in the broader
contest for the nation.

Since 1989 there have been numerous
indications within Chinese society of a growing
disenchantment with the West and its allies. People have
been sorely aware that the post-1989 transformation in
Eastern Europe and the Russia has not been as rapid or as
positive as first expected. As in many other parts of the
world, there is a general belief that the West, its values
and systems have not made that much difference to
post-Communist countries. For those who supported the 1989
student movement, there is the added realization that if
China had then successfully undergone a major political
upheaval the nation could well have been faced with the
disorder that now dogs Russia's rulers.